Holiday with a Vampire 4: Halfway to DawnThe GiftBright Star (Harlequin Nocturne) Page 15

  If she only knew how worthless their lives would now become without the locket, she’d see things completely differently. Cullen held her small hands between his. “I’m not risking death. Let me go and get it back for you. Please.”

  “Did you see that man’s eyes, Cullen, I mean really look at them? He was desperate, not vacant or hard.”

  “A thief is a thief. I say we track him down anyway. He can keep the money as long as we get your locket back.” Cullen looked desperate. For the life of her she couldn’t understand why the locket, which had been her family heirloom, could mean so much to him.

  “Wait a second. It means something to you, doesn’t it? That’s why the test. That’s why the outrageous offer to buy it. Why do you want that locket so badly? I’m not letting you go after it until you tell me the truth.”

  Cullen growled and turned, pacing the length of the sidewalk. “Why can’t you just believe me?”

  “I need more than that. You owe me more than that.”

  He raked his fingers through his hair, making his polished appearance suddenly more chaotic. “Do you remember the bad relationship I said changed me?”

  “Yes.”

  “She did more than change me into a vampire. She stole part of my immortal soul. She bound it into that locket. If I don’t help you get it back, I may never—”

  “Never what?”

  “Never have a chance to be free.”

  “Free?” Her brow puckered. “Free? Are you telling me this entire thing was just a setup to get that locket back?”

  Cullen grimaced. “At first—”

  “At first? And what now? Am I still just someone you can dupe into getting what you want? Is that all I am to you?” Deep in her chest her heart splintered. She’d been used by men before, but this was different. Far different. It hurt worse, because some small part of her had begun to love him.

  He grabbed her about the upper arm, his blue eyes blazing flame. “No.” His fingers tenderly traced through the hair at her temple. “But I don’t know what else to do. Everything I am is tied to that locket. And if he sells it or gives it away to another, the curse continues. And I lose you. Plain and simple. I have to go where the locket takes me.”

  The ache in her chest eased. “You really are like a trapped genie of the lamp, aren’t you?”

  He nodded, his expression morose. “The price of pissing off a voodoo priestess.”

  “Why didn’t you just take it from me, before you let me fall in love with you?”

  “You love me?”

  She nodded. “I know it’s crazy. But I also know I’ve never felt like this before.” She didn’t want to stand in his way, yet the thought of letting him go pierced cold and hard through her chest. Angel rubbed at the soreness just over her heart. All along her common sense had told her it wouldn’t last, that there had to be a reason someone like Cullen was interested in her. And now she knew: the locket—just like her mother had said.

  * * *

  He’d sincerely thought about glamouring her and taking the locket. Hardly the stuff of heroes. But when the thief had intervened, his brain hadn’t thought past the immediate moment. Protecting Angel had been all that mattered.

  She’d been the one to see more in the thief. The desperation and need in the man’s eyes. Perhaps that was why she saw the glimmer of a heroic man in him yet. She saw more in him than even he could see in himself.

  Cullen tightened his hold on her, afraid that she might slip out of his arms and disappear as quickly as she’d come into his life.

  “I can’t take it from you. It’s part of the curse. It can only be freely given, and once a wish is made, I’m bound to that wish for the lifetime of the owner.”

  “All this time, you’ve been trying to get it back to get your soul back, haven’t you?”

  He nodded. “When you said Belle Eau was lonely, that was an understatement. Immortality long ago lost its luster. Having no one to talk to who shares your passions, no one who cares for you as you do for them is a monotonous existence—a half life, really.”

  Angel spread her hands along his broad chest, the warmth of her touch seeping into his very bones. She loved him. It was unfathomable.

  “Then let’s get it back.” Determination edged her words in steel.

  Cullen sniffed at the cold air. There. A slight whiff of desperation tainted with pain and worry. The thief. He slipped his hand around Angel’s and gave it a squeeze.

  “Come on, I know where he is.”

  They walked quickly through the predawn streets of New Harmony. Angel had to practically jog to keep up with his long, quick strides. Her pace grew slower and slower, and Cullen found himself reducing his pace to make it easier for her. But time was running out. Dawn was already changing the dark of night to a lighter blue on the horizon.

  By the time the sun rose above the mountain ridge, the magic of the locket would cease, bound up again until it reached its new owner’s hands.

  He couldn’t take that chance. Not when he had more to lose now than he ever had. Before it had only been the last remnant of his immortal soul at stake. Now it was his heart.

  Marie’s deviousness all of a sudden became so much clearer. Losing what he loved would be far more torture than the loss of his soul. And she’d wanted him to know that feeling.

  At that moment Cullen decided he could do anything, be anything to see Angel happy, and if part of that included being with her, so much the better.

  They reached the parking lot to the side of a small convenience store on the edge of town. Angel was out of breath and bent double to catch it.

  “Are you all right?”

  She waved him off. “Go. Get. Him,” she wheezed.

  But before either of them could move a step, the thief came around the corner of the convenience store, two thin plastic sacks in one hand and a package of diapers under the opposite arm. Not at all what Cullen had expected.

  His eyes widened. “You!” He pulled the gun from his waistband and pointed it at them.

  “We don’t mean you any harm. All we want is the locket back,” Cullen said, but clearly the man was too shocked to hear him.

  “You don’t understand. I’m sorry I robbed you, but I’ve got no choice. I needed food for my baby, and the locket is going to be a Christmas gift for my wife. I’m not going to jail again. I can’t.” He held the gun at them, the tip of it shaking.

  “You have a choice. We all have a choice. Now, give me the gun.”

  He took a step toward the man and the thief panicked. His eyes narrowing and his fingers squeezed. BANG!

  Cullen watched in horrified fascination as he tracked the bullet speeding toward Angel, able to see it with his vampire vision, but powerless to stop it.

  “Angel!” He stepped in front of her, taking the hit of the bullet, but it passed through the flesh of his side. She bucked behind him, falling backward, a bright red rose blossoming on her chest, saturating her shirt and the air with the scent of her blood.

  Time stilled to impossible, unbearable slowness. Cullen had gotten used to the fact that vampires could move faster, so the lingering moment seemed even more painfully drawn out to him. He heard the skitter of footsteps as the thief ran and the clatter of the gun on the pavement, but all his concentration was locked firmly on Angel as her pulse slowed, filling his ears with the

  ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk of her heart. Her skin grew waxen and shiny with perspiration.

  There was only one thing he could do.

  He crouched down beside her, drawing her into his lap. “Angel, stay with me.”

  Her frightened eyes bore into his, but when she tried to speak, she coughed, bright red blood staining her lips. She trembled as her body went into shock.

  “I’m dying, aren’t I?”

  As much as it pained him, Cullen answered truthfully. “Yes. But I may be able to help you. Do you still want to be a vampire?”

  She nodded. Cullen grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Then just
relax. This will be over soon.”

  She’d already lost so much blood there was no need to nearly drain her. He bent and kissed her neck. Her pulse was thin and thready. He’d never created a vampire before and he hoped like hell he was doing it right. With a flick his fangs descended and he used them to slice across his wrist, letting the thin black ichor that flowed through his veins dribble into her mouth.

  Angel coughed against the flow, but drank. Suddenly her eyes bulged and she grew stiff against him.

  “Let it pass. The body is fighting to survive.”

  She grabbed hold of his coat. “Cullen. Save me.”

  The last few beats of her heart slowed until all he heard was the faint ka-thunk, kaa-thunk, kaaaa-thunk, then stillness.

  Slivers of golden light streaked across the sky as dawn broke. She lay still, so impossibly still that Cullen wondered if he’d somehow screwed things up.

  “Angel? Angel, can you hear me?”

  * * *

  Angel heard him. She could feel the wool of his coat abrading her cheek, but she was immobile, frozen in her own body, unable to move or speak. Inside her head she screamed in frustration, and Cullen twitched.

  Angel, can you hear me? his voice echoed in her head.

  Cullen? Cullen! I’m here. I can’t breathe! Why can’t I move? Why are you talking to me in my head?

  Just relax. Give the ichor time to work. You don’t need to breathe. You’ll be able to move soon enough.

  He held her tenderly in his arms as they waited. The sound of sirens came wailing, coming nearer. Someone must have called the police when they heard the gunshot.

  Angel winced and found she could blink her eyes.

  “Welcome back, beautiful.”

  It took all the effort she had to turn her head and gaze up at him and smile. Cullen helped her sit up as an ambulance pulled into the parking lot. A flutter of panic lodged in her stomach. They were sure to notice the bloodstained shirt, the hole in her chest and the fact that she had no pulse. Cullen, what are we going to do?

  Don’t worry. I’ve got this.

  She watched as Cullen turned and greeted the paramedics and police officer. He spoke in slow, even tones, and their eyes grew glassy and unfocused. “She has merely gotten grazed by the bullet. It was a random shot.”

  Angel bit her bottom lip, hoping that whatever he was doing would work. There was enough blood and the placement of the bullet wound right over her chest would easily enough prove everything he’d said was a lie. The paramedics briefly looked her over and seemed perfectly satisfied it was a flesh wound. The police officer took Cullen’s statement, and soon enough they were left alone once more.

  Cullen wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

  “How on earth did you do that?”

  He smiled. “I threw a glamour over them. It’s a handy trick I’ll have to teach you. Particularly useful when you’re in negotiations over a piece you think should sell for more than the buyer is offering. It’s one of many new skills I’ll teach you.”

  “But they had to see the huge hole in my chest,” she said as she unbuttoned her blouse and pulled back the shirt. Her skin was still smeared with drying blood, but only a small, white scar remained where the bullet had skewered through her. She sucked in a startled breath and stared at him. “It’s gone!”

  “Being a vampire has its perks.”

  She frowned slightly. “You said you could call things to you, materialize them.”

  For a second Cullen hesitated. “Yes.”

  “How?”

  Was she truly ready? “Why?”

  “I want to try something.” The fierce determination in her eyes convinced him she’d try it whether he explained it or not.

  He grasped her hand and cupped it palm upward in his. “First you need to think of the thing you want, picture not just the image of it in your mind, but the essence of it. How it feels or smells, the weight, temperature and texture of it. Let that sensation of the thing start like a heat in your belly and then fill you up.”

  Angel closed her eyes and concentrated on the locket. The smooth warmth of it. The way it felt against her skin. Until a slow, mellow warmth built in her core then radiated outward, like sunbeams, until her hand grew hot and she could nearly feel the locket in her hand.

  “Heaven above. You’ve done it!”

  Angel snapped open her eyes to find the locket safe and sound in her palm.

  “I’ve tried that a thousand times, and the locket would never appear for me.”

  Angel smiled. “Maybe because you belonged to it, but it didn’t belong to you.” She slowly let the length of chain slide through her fingers as she let the locket fall and coil into his palm. “But now I give it to you. As a gift and a thank-you for saving my life. You’re free now. You can do whatever you want.”

  The locket shimmered for a moment, a greenish glowing cloud covering both his hand and the necklace. Then, with a burst of light, both the glowing vapor and the locket disappeared.

  Angel gasped. “What happened?”

  All Cullen could do was smile. He brushed the backs of his fingertips of his other hand across her cheek in a whisper-soft caress that reminded Angel of butterfly wings.

  “I believe that means we’re free. Both of us.”

  “So, where will you go?”

  “I don’t wish to go anywhere without you. You are what I want.” He drew close, brushing a light kiss across her forehead. “Now.” The next brushed her lips. “Forever.” Then he pulled back and smiled. “Always.”

  Angel wrapped her arms around his waist as she looked into the fathomless blue of his eyes and felt his next kiss all the way down to her toes. The warmth of knowing he loved her just as her, just as she was, wiped away all doubt. Whatever curse had held the locket, and them, the gift of love had set them free.

  * * * * *

  Bright Star

  Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  To my family, those here and those gone, who always believed I had a story to tell.

  Chapter 1

  The earthy scent of a pine forest made the December night seem lush. For an immortal with his senses open full throttle, Dylan McCay found the fragrant Christmas tree lot nothing less than a sensory wonderland.

  But there was no time to revel in the glories of nature. He had a job to do, and as he waited among the trees silently observing his target, he was surprised by what he found. The woman whose research of the heavens had come too close to the secrets the special beings of his world didn’t want exposed wasn’t the kind of troublemaker he had gotten used to.

  Savannah Clark, PhD, astronomer, up-and-coming researcher into the age of stars, was female and younger than he would have imagined. She was fragile in appearance, almost too ethereal to be such a bother.

  Yet her willowy frame housed an incredible intelligence, aided by a dogged persistence that was going to make her famous any day now. And because she was sharper than most of the others in her field, her research had sent up warning flags that had drawn him here from a great distance.

  Hello, Savannah.

  Tonight, she wore a crimson garment, its color both popular and indicative of the season mortals celebrated in December. Red was a color used to clothe a mythical Santa Claus but also had in its vibration the essence of violence. Red, crimson and scarlet attracted bulls in the Spanish arenas and also lured thirsty creatures out of urban hollows to drink blood from the necks of the innocent.

  Savannah Clark was beautiful. She had an oval face and luminous skin. Her fair hair, cut to shoulder length and silky, radiated a golden vitality that stirred in him memories of the sun.

  Despite those charms, she had to be stopped from furthering her research. He had to stop her. She was the singular objective for leaving his hundred-year, self-imposed s
eclusion behind. He just hadn’t anticipated how being among so many mortals, after having been distanced from them, would affect him, or that seeing this woman in person might give him pause. He had expected someone older, with an appearance to match. Savannah Clark was light in spirit and fresh-faced.

  Who could have predicted that her pert, compelling features would be dominated by large blue eyes and that her movements would be elegant, almost dancelike, when she gracefully raised an arm or turned her head?

  Moreover, he was amused by a time that saw women, everywhere he looked, wearing pants. Savannah Clark’s pants fit her like a scandalous second skin, showing off every lean angle and feminine curve.

  These were details he should not have been noticing in an adversary he had been sent to censure. It was a shame, he thought now, that this fair-haired researcher whose progress on what had become known as the Christmas Star had roused the unwanted attention of his brethren.

  I’ve come for you, Savannah Clark.

  Dylan closed his lips over the points of his sharpened incisors that had extended with the first sight of this woman. His attraction had been immediate, as had his sudden curiosity about the sparkling lights and glittering chaos of the season the people around her celebrated. But he couldn’t afford to regret what he had to do. His mission was imperative to the well-being of all people in the long run.

  If Savannah actually found what she’d set out to find in her system of tracing stars back to their origins, publicizing her findings might end the world as most humans knew it. If mortals found out there were creatures other than themselves populating the earth, panic might ensue.

  Given the importance of his task, it was interesting how thoughts of his agenda dimmed somewhat when Savannah Clark suddenly smiled at nothing he could see. That radiant, innocent smile caused the blood in his veins to swell in restless waves.

  Her jubilant expression was like an open invitation for someone used to seclusion, and a kind of spiritual food he hadn’t realized he hungered for.

  Dylan continued to stare.

  A few whispered words and a subtle meeting of our eyes will put an end to this visit and send me back to where I belong. If I move closer to you now, it will be over in seconds, Savannah.